Deciding What You Offer
Before every interview, ask yourself:

“Why am I a good fit for this job?”

I tell my clients to post the question, “Why should we hire you?” on their bathroom mirror, refrigerator or anyplace they will see it during the day. I instruct them to answer, out loud, keeping different companies in mind each time. Rehearsing this way will help you hone in on what you have to offer.

Identify what is unique or special about you. How have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? What did you accomplish that no one else managed to do? Did you volunteer to tackle a problem and solve it? Donâ€t underestimate the value of looking at yourself, your skills and your accomplishments and outlining the key points you will want to share with a prospective employer.

Identify What the Organization Wants
While the focus of “Why should we hire you?” (and other interview questions) is on “you,” the interviewee, itâ€s important to remember the answer isnâ€t all about you. The most successful interview responses focus on the hiring managerâ€s needs. Framing replies that demonstrate you understand their problems — or “pain points,” makes a big difference when competing with many other qualified candidates.

Prepare by identifying the skills employers are looking for. Use their in-depth job descriptions, view videos the employers post about their organization, visit their Facebook sites and Twitter feeds.

Answer the Question

Frame your answer to, “Why should we hire you?” to suit the employerâ€s needs. Print and highlight the job description, looking for the top three or four most important details. Do they include terms such as, “cross-functional team,” “team work,” and “team player” several times? If your answer to, “Why should we hire you?” (asked directly or as an underlying question) does not mention and focus on your abilities as they relate to teams, you are probably out of luck.

I gave these and other tips to Forbes writer Jacquelyn Smith. Take a look at her post for more good tips.

photo by purpleslog

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These strategies will help you answer any oddball interview question.

1. Never question the value of the inquiry itself. If you say, “What does this have to do with the job?” you might as well get up and walk out of the interview. (Unless they are looking for a contrary or difficult candidate, which is unlikely.)

2. It’s OK to stop for a minute to think. In fact, it’s a good idea to take a deep breath before delving into your answer. You may also want to repeat the question to make sure you understand it correctly.

3. Unless the organization is overtly political, do not introduce controversial or political topics in your answers. For example, in answering the question about what state to eliminate from the U.S., don’t let on that you’d like to axe California because it’s reliably democratic, or Texas because it is always “red.”

4. Consider the reason the interviewer may have chosen the question. Maybe he is trying to see if you have a sense of humor, in which case you could respond with a funny answer. Petco asked an analyst candidate, “How would you direct someone else on how to cook an omelet?” It’s likely the job requires being able to explain concepts and possibly action steps to people, which makes the question seem reasonable and not so off-the-wall.

5. Many oddball questions help the interviewer assess how you think, so be sure to demonstrate your thought process, don’t just give an answer. For example, interviewers at JetBlue who asked a pricing/revenue management analyst candidate, “How many quarters would you need to reach the height of the Empire State building?” probably don’t expect a correct answer. Replying, “500,000” isn’t going to give the interviewer any insight about you. Instead, talk out your thought process. For example, “It’s best to stack the quarters on top of each other. A quarter is about .05 inches thick, so there are about 240 quarters in a foot. If the Empire State Building is about 1,400 feet tall, it would take about 336,000 quarters to reach the top. That doesn’t include the antennae!” When you answer this way, even if your specifics are not correct, you can still win points for your thought process. (And for the details you include, such as stacking the quarters and considering the antennae.)

6. Focus on the characteristics of the job, if possible. At Trader Joe’s (a food store), they asked a crew candidate, “If we came to your house for dinner, what would you prepare for us?” This is a great opportunity for the job seeker to demonstrate what he or she knows about the food at Trader Joe’s. “I would select some of Trader Joe’s best, fresh vegetables — asparagus is in season now, to serve with organically fed poultry. I’d cook them with Trader Joe’s brand mole sauce and, voila — a great meal.”

7. No matter what, don’t let any question rattle or stress you out. Amanda Lachapelle, director of HR and talent acquisition at Glassdoor, a jobs and career community said, “The worst answer you can give is a short response with no explanation or say ‘I don’t know.’ When answering tough questions, take your time, ask the interviewer to clarify if necessary, show your personality and explain how you can problem solve out loud.”

Photo by Jenn and Tony Bot

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Meg had the opposite problem. Her replies were very short. Unfortunately, at the risk of leaving OUT key information that would help convince the interviewer to hire her.

Interviewing Meg, someone so focused on “how long she should talk” highlighted the fact that encouraging clients to keep answers short is just part of the story, and one that can be taken too literally, at the expense of a high-quality interview!

(Indulge me here a minute…)

Have you ever listened to a professional storyteller? (If not, you’re missing out, but I digress…) Usually, the story itself will be longer than the typical “listening span” we naturally have. However, the forward motion of the story, the storyteller’s investment in the tale and the intriguing details all combine to propel listeners forward. They stay with the story for a pretty simple reason – they want to KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!

Need help telling YOUR career story?
Check out my new book: 100 Conversations for Career Success

So, when you respond to interview questions, there is no need to time your answer with a stopwatch or worry how many seconds you have to reply as long as you are telling a compelling story that ANSWERS THE QUESTION. Think about it – if a child asks you to relay the Dracula story and you start out discussing Snow White – you’re going to have mutiny on your hands! Similarly, focusing on actually addressing the question at hand is the most important factor in an interview.

Your interviewer is listening for the answer to the question. If you make it clear that you are addressing the question from the get-go, you have a much better chance of maintaining his or her attention level and interest.

While I am not advocating for 20-minute, fully fleshed out tales a la a professional storyteller in the interview (lest hiring managers and recruiters try to pelt my website with tomatoes!), I do want to answer the question, “How long should your answer to an interview question be?” this way:

DO keep your answers relatively succinct. If you want to know how long it takes to answer a question, time yourself…You can probably get a lot of words into just 30 or 45 seconds. BUT – remember that it is even more important to actually answer the question with details that will support your ability to DO THE JOB! Don’t start with a lot of excessive background information that does not seem to relate to the question itself.

Get to the point – include details that will hook the reader, and be sure to actually answer the question. In the long run, as long as you don’t go on and on, the length matters less than the content.

For more on interviewing:

How to tell a STAR story.

Tips to turn your interviewer into a fan

The most important interview questions

My mock interview clients improve their interviewing skills exponentially! Could you use a job search jump start? Not sure you can put all of the great tools at your disposal to good use? Need a great resume? Learn how I can help you propel your job hunt forward.

photo by HCM Hitchhiker

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