As a recruiter, I take pride in providing helpful strategies for professionals in order to help them shine during the interview process. For example, a most important tip is communicating achievements in a concise manner that tells the backstory, process and impact/achievement one has made thus far in their professional career. Also, the communication delivery during the interview process is just as important as the content. If a professional is not able to demonstrate solid communication skills, this will impact their ability to lead teams, work with cross functional departments and manage communication with Executives. The following are my simple tips to guide professionals on the delivery of their accomplishments:
- Sharing the back story: I have found on many occasions professionals will dive into their achievements and/or impact with past positions which is a necessity to demonstrate qualifications. However, the impact is far greater when the back story is shared!
For example, an Operations Executive is hired into a company and restructures the vendors thus saving the company $500K. This professional would obviously want to share this major accomplishment in an interview, but doing so in a way that highlights the backstory. Using this example, sharing the backstory would be the following: “The company was paying over $500K for the last 5 years with longer lead times and quality issues. The streamlining and negotiation of vendors initiated led to cost savings, shortened delivery times by 5 days and a reduction of quality issues by 40%.”
Highlighting these specifics is very impactful and paints a concise picture of the true achievements that one is trying to demonstrate. In other words, back up your impressive accomplishments with specific facts.
- Detail the process: Credibility during the interview process is developed when an employer understands how the achievement was accomplished. Often professionals focus on the results. However, if an employer does not understand how a certain accomplishment was achieved, they may assume the achievement is exaggerated which takes away from the overall impact of what is being conveyed during the interview. For example, a Marketing Executive is hired to expand brand awareness and they successfully accomplished this by hiring talent that understood how to execute. Using this example, detailing the process would be the following: “Hiring talent that knew how to execute a brand story, identifying a PR Agency that aligned with the company goals and aesthetic, developing social media strategies and customizing approaches to all retailers, took a $100 million dollar brand to $300 million.”
- Highlighting Achievement: We work in a data driven environment and most companies are managing results based on KPI’s to determine their ongoing success. I encourage professionals to track results/impact to deliver during the interview process. For example, a Sales Executive is hired to increase sales and they successfully make this happen by creating new relationships and acquiring new accounts. Using this example, highlighting achievement would present the achievement as such: “Sales increased dramatically with the acquisition of 20 new accounts thus adding $1 million during the 1st year”. Highlighting specific outcomes as opposed to saying, “sales increased dramatically within the first year” provide facts/details that deliver a WOW factor which should ultimately be your goal!
The Bottom Line
These are simple tools that I share with all professionals I work with to help them demonstrate their WOW factors. Interviewing is a conversation with between two or more professionals. The ability to communicate in a concise manner will determine your desired result in the process. Happy Hunting!
