In job interviews you’re typically competing against several other people. How can you stand out and be the one who gets the job?
Is it a matter of gimmicks or tricks? Nope! It’s a matter of making it very clear to the employer that you’re the best candidate. And that clarity comes from focusing attention – yours and the interviewer’s – on the right things.
Less Is More: The Importance of Focus in Job Interviews
In a job interview, you’re striving to educate the interviewer about why you’re the one. Educators know that if you hit someone with a huge bunch of facts willy-nilly, they may not learn anything. People learn better when the presentation is focused and organized around a few core concepts.
In sales, these are often called “key selling points.” (This is closely related to the idea of a unique selling proposition or a personal brand.) These points are where you want to focus the interviewer’s attention.
In an interview, the “product” you’re selling is you. If that sounds awful, let’s remember that you’re not selling your soul – just clearly communicating the skills, expertise and personal strengths that will make you valuable to an employer.
In fact, let’s get away from sales terminology. I call these your “REV Points,” because they work best if they’re Relevant, Exceptional and Verifiable (REV).
Ask yourself, what would my co-workers and managers say if I asked them what makes me uniquely valuable? What do I do better than others? Jot down a good long list.
Now identify which of these possible selling points really have that “REV” that’s going to make you stand out.
Choosing Selling Points that Really “REV”
I mentioned that REV stands for Relevant, Exceptional and Verifiable. Here’s what I mean by these terms.
Relevant: A relevant qualification is in demand by employers. Study several job postings for the type of job you want, and underline the important skills, qualifications and qualities the employer is looking for. Which seem to be the top priorities?
Think about the likely pain points of your target companies – the problems that are eating into their profits or making them look bad. Skills that can help solve these problems are powerfully relevant.
Exceptional: An exceptional quality or qualification is one that stands out. Probably all of your competitors have experience in multi-tasking. But can they all speak Mandarin with the company’s Chinese clients.
Maybe you are exceptionally hard working, extremely intelligent, or a superb people person. Well, lots of people say these things about themselves. If you are truly exceptional in a soft skill like these, you’ll need to make it more convincing – it needs to be verifiable.
Verifiable: By this I mean that the item is not just a claim or opinion. It’s something you can prove or give evidence for.
Facts are naturally verifiable. Let’s say you believe your graduate degree is a key selling point. No problem, this is a fact and it can be verified with a background check. Likewise, your work experience is a collection of facts that can be verified.
Skills can be tougher, especially soft skills like communication. Most job applicants claim to have excellent communication skills. By itself, this claim is so subjective – such a matter of opinion, really – that it’s almost meaningless. Until you give evidence for it. Your evidence might be something like this:
- The skillfulness of your spoken and written communications with the interviewer. (Thus, you’re demonstrating these skills rather than just claiming to have them.)
- A story about the time when you diplomatically sorted out a misunderstanding and kept a client from leaving.
- The fact that you wrote documentation that reduced service calls 50%.
Now your claim of exceptional communication skills has credibility!
You’ll notice that we’re using these terms – verify, prove, evidence – a bit loosely. We’re not talking about proving your skills with legalistic or scientific precision. The point is to be able to back up your claims enough to make them reasonably convincing to the interviewer.
Example: One Candidate’s Interview REV Points
Denise Williams is a sales manager looking for a new job. The most relevant, exceptional and verifiable reasons she’s the right person to hire are:
- Track record of consistently over-achieving goals and earning awards in Fortune 500 companies
- Exceptional talent for effectively anticipating and navigating change through cross-functional collaboration (with stories to “verify” this and make it real)
- Learns quickly and positively impacts the bottom line within the first few months on any job (again, verified by stories)
Using Your REV Points
Now that you know the top 3 or top 5 things that will make you stand out, how do you use them to get the job?
- Emphasize them throughout the interview process.
- Start the interview with them. Make a great first impression by bringing up these points as you answer the first question in the interview, which is often “Tell me about yourself.”
- Tell stories (examples) from your work that bring each of these key points to life. These stories can also help you improve your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- End the interview with them. People tend to remember what they hear first, but also what they hear last. Include some or all of these points in your closing statement at the end of the interview, as well as your follow-up communications.
Want help figuring out your key selling points? Sign up for my FREE five-lesson course, Stand Out In Your Interviews.
