Job interviews are strange in some respects.
You find yourself being asked lots of questions by the hiring manager or a panel.
You have the chance to ask some questions.
Everyone is doing their best to show the best side of themselves.
Yet in reality converting those job interviews into job interviews can be tough.
In this article I want to share 7 common reasons not to offer you the job and how to overcome them.
Reason 1: You Don’t Convince
You probably are interviewing for more than one role.
So why do you want this specific role in this organisation?
Failing to come up with a convincing answer will hurt your chances of being offered the job.
How To Overcome This: Write out a clear and convincing pitch that sets out exactly why this role in this organisation is right for you at this point in your career.
Reason 2: You Don’t Start Well
First impressions matter.
How you answer that opening question is vitally important.
The question you are asked is typically one where you are asked about your career, your experience or yourself.
It’s designed to get you talking and comfortable.
Answer it well and you create a positive first impression.
Answer it poorly and chances are the focus of some interviewers will be to spend the rest of the time looking for evidence to back up their initial impression.
How To Overcome This: Practice answering this opening question over and over again. Audio record yourself. Video record yourself. Make sure your answer isn’t too long and trying to cover every angle.
Reason 3: You Don’t Link Your Experience To The Role
The job advert, job description and person specifications are full of nuggets.
They tell you exactly what’s been looked for.
They are likely to be the source of questions.
It’s surprising therefore that candidates often fail to link to their experience to the role and talk generically.
How To Overcome This: Make sure when talking about your experience you link it to the specific role you are interviewing for.
Reason 4: You Struggle To Show Your Technical Competence
When I interviewed when hiring and now when doing mock interviews with clients, I’m surprised just how often people struggle to show their technical competence.
Often this is in areas that should be a real gift to someone with their qualifications and experience.
How To Overcome This: Forensically review the job description. Identify the core responsibilities. Make sure that you can explain how you would carry out specific tasks or deliver the specific outcomes that will be required.
Reason 5: You Don’t Use Enough Examples
Many organisations now use competency based interviews.
These interviews focus on asking you to tell them about a time or describe a situation where you dealt with something challenging.
They should be a gift to candidates.
Despite this I see people struggling.
How To Overcome This: When answering competency based questions use plenty of examples. If you do this you will be able to demonstrate real life experience rather than just a theoretical answer.
Reason 6: You Let Nerves Get The Better Of You
Job interviews are not something you do that often.
So it’s really hard to become really good at them.
Chances are if you are like most of us, you will have had at least one interview that hasn’t gone as well as you would have liked.
If you are really keen on a role or perhaps there’s not much in the pipeline, it’s easy to heap the pressure on yourself and make the interview a much bigger thing than it really is.
How To Overcome This: Learn some techniques to get you relaxed and in a positive frame of mind ahead of the job interview. Keep the job interview in perspective.
At the end of the day it’s a structured meeting where you and the hiring manager are trying to determine if there’s a fit between what you can offer and what’s required.
Reason 7: You Don’t Demonstrate The Value You Will Bring
I work with accountants and professional people predominantly.
Really smart people but not always the best at speaking positively about themselves and the value they can bring.
As a result they don’t showcase themselves as effectively as they could.
How To Overcome This: Ahead of the job interview create a list of areas where you can bring value in the role either as a result of past experience, knowledge, qualifications, research or even past failings that you have learned from.
In reality there are many reasons not to offer you the job. There are always going to be factors outside of your control. Equally you don’t wanted to be rejected because of reasons that are within your control or influence, like the 7 I’ve talked about above.