The tools of communication have changed; the human brain has not. Business school grads who understand this fact of human psychology will find it easier to stand out in job interviews. And they need to find ways to stand apart.
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, employers say they plan to hire fewer MBA graduates. The number of employers who say they’ll be hiring recent business school grads dropped six percentage points year over year. The good news is, despite the drop, 85% of U.S. employers still plan to add MBA’s in 2018.
One of the best things about writing this column is hearing from professionals, students, and managers who use these tips to get hired or win promotions. I also hear from recruiters and hiring managers who tell me what they’re looking for in potential leaders. Based on their observations, here is a short list of five interview tips that can help you win your dream job.
1. Your resume is not your story. Aristotle gave us the three building blocks of persuasion more than 2,000 years ago. Ethos is character and credibility. Your resume, awards and achievements convey credibility. Logos is a logical appeal. A job candidate makes a logical appeal for the position by describing how their skills are suited for the position. But Aristotle said that persuasion cannot occur in the absence of Pathos—emotion.
The best rhetorical tool we have to convey emotion is story. When a recruiter asks, “Tell us about yourself,” it is not an invitation to walk through the bullet points on a resume. Have one or two stories in your pocket that highlight the value you can add. They can be stories of how you overcame an especially vexing problem or how you motivated a team to do more than they thought possible.
2. Read everything the company’s CEO has written. JPMorgan Chase recruits MBA graduates every year. Chief Executive, Jaime Dimon, wrote a 48-page letter this year about the state of the global economy. He writes a letter every year, and yet he told a class of business students that he’s interviewed people who haven’t read it. If you’re a job candidate and you don’t know what the CEO says about taxes and trade, you’re losing an opportunity to stand out from the others—many of whom may not have read the CEO’s recent reports.
3. Pitch the product better than a company’s sales professionals. I’ve been tracking the progress of a young man whose been keeping in touch with me since he graduated from college. He sent out dozens of resumes upon graduation and didn’t get a call back. When he did land his first face-to-face interview, he won the job almost instantly, despite the fact that the hiring manager had already set his mind on someone else.
How did he do it? He crafted a sales pitch for the company’s main product and practiced it for hours. The hiring manager asked, “What do you know about our products?” The young man’s pitch captivated the recruiter. He interviewed on a Friday and was hired the following Monday. For his first task, he was asked to record the pitch for the company’s veteran sales staff. “Nobody’s been able to explain our product as well as you,” his boss said. Great communicators are irreplaceable.
4. Stick to the rule of three. No recruiter wants to hear you drone on and on in response to a question. Regular readers of my column know that I’m a fan of a classic rhetorical device called the rule of three. Simply put, the human mind is only capable of recalling three to five main points in short term (working) memory. Don’t overwhelm your listener with a list of twenty-eight messages. Keep it to three. Give a recruiter three reasons to hire you; three ways your skill will help the company make money; three highlights from your resume.
5. Improve video skills. Today, many companies such Goldman Sachs are using video interviews to cut down on the number of face-to-face interviews. Here are some strategies that will help you stand out on video.
-Dress 25% better than the other people at the company.
-Pay attention to lighting and background. Don’t record the video in your bedroom with an unmade bed or against a whiteboard. Use a well-lit, quiet, professional office setting.
-Don’t slouch. Sit up straight and pay attention to your posture.
-Be concise, yet specific. The rule of three works especially well in short video interviews where a company will give you two minutes for each answer.
-Smile and act natural.
-Make eye contact into the camera, but don’t be afraid to look away from time to time as you would in a natural conversation.
Several new surveys by companies like LinkedIn and McKinsey have arrived at the same conclusion: Communication skills are in high demand and low supply. Master the art of speaking, impress recruiters and you’re more likely to win that coveted job.
Carmine Gallo is the author of Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. He is a keynote speaker, Harvard instructor and wrote “Talk like TED” and “The Storyteller’s Secret.”