How to get hired in an interview – revealing 2 secrets today

Tis the season of hirings and interviews…

Or at least to fill my department’s vacancy.

After years of interviewing engineers and technicians, I’ve come to see some patterns in candidates’ resumes, and their interviewing skills. And after hiring, I can see the how the candidates work, so I guess, I’ll be talking about the whole cycle.

Today, I want to share two secrets in hiring.

One thing I always look for in a candidate, is the ability to be specific.

Being specific means, giving your tasks and achievements, a value.

Have a degree, what’s your CGPA?

You improved your process yield, tell me by how many percent?

Your secret recipe cupcakes are a hit? How much money did you make?

Basically, by having numbers, you show the value of your work, as well as indicate that you work within targets. As I’ve said before, working without a target (or a deadline), is not working, it’s just a hobby.

This attitude, and a prone to details, should continue at work. Someone who has a keen to numbers, will be more aggressive in achieving targets – we managers are looking for you!

So take a look at your resume, does it validate yourself? If it doesn’t, revise it.

Then, take a look at yourself when you work. Do you even know your department’s targets? Do you know your own individual target? Do you know where you are now, comparing to your targets?

Or even at life. Do you plan to go for that vacation in Maldives in June? Have you estimated the budget? How much savings do you have now? How much cupcakes do you need to sell to book that flight ticket? Numbers, number, they move you.

 

The next one I want to share is  – fitting.

In hiring, there is such a thing called fitting. It is basically to see whether you fit in:

• the job
• the team (or the company)

To see whether you fit in, hiring managers may look at (some if not all):

• your existing knowledge
• your passion
• your attitude
• your experience
• your gender, age, marital status, race, hometown even

So, you may be an excellent candidate, and the manager is totally impressed in the interview, but if there is someone who seems to fit in better, he may be the one chosen. You can say it’s luck. We call it rezeki.

Here’s to say that, if you weren’t chosen, it may not be because you failed, it may just be because the manager thinks you may not fit in – you may even be overqualified!

So if that happens, don’t give up – you’ll find your home eventually. Take interviews as practice on selling yourself.

 

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