By Grace Totoro

How to Turn Your Interview into A Consultative Conversation That Gets You Hired –  A Job Seeker’s Story!

Joan, a former job seeker and consumer products sales professional, who was a former client of mine, attracted an interview based on her linked in profile which promised she would bring in five new customers a month using social media platforms and his time-tested process. One of her target organizations called to schedule a face-to-face 1st interview with her, and she asked me how to approach the interview.

Here’s the strategy I suggested. I explained that she needed to turn the focus of the interview on the interviewer. In other words, get the interviewer to talk about his or her pain areas. Once Joan learns what the pain points are, she could conversationally demonstrate how she would resolve them.  Something like this:

Interviewer: “Well Joan, your promise to bring in 5 new customers a month attracted my attention. Can you tell me more about you and how you would go about doing this?”

Joan: “ Yes, I am a visionary and a big picture Sales Representative. I understand that to make the sale, you must first understand the customer and determine where their pain points are so that you can customize your solution to fit their needs. Many overzealous sales professionals at times leave that part of the process out, which hurts their results in the long run.

I’ve built my process and track record by learning about my target audience by studying market research results on the best social media platforms my target audience visits. I then created a survey asking my prospects to rate various products and asked if they would want samples of the products to try after completing the survey. Of course, this required that they leave their contact information. The results helped me to see that for every 100 hundred survey responses; I was able to speak with ten prospects who wanted the product samples, and I was able to turn four 4 or 5 of these consumers into subscription customers. Would you mind telling me what your strategy is and how it is capturing subscriptions for your company?” (This is Joan’s lead into determining where the issues are.)

Interviewer: “Yes, Joan, I must say that I’m not up to date with the results that market research generates in my company, however, it does appear that our conversion rate is lower than what you say yours is. It may have something to do with our price increase which was what we needed to do in the short run to pick up the revenue that we lost to the competition last year.”

Joan: “I understand that most companies today are using the tourniquet method of stopping the bleeding and not taking the time to review the facts or ask their customers and prospects what they want or what they need. I decided to do my research with the customers in our industry and would love the opportunity to share and help your company with what I learned and with my process.”

What you see here is an exchange; one that turns the table around and gets the interviewer to talk about the issues his company is facing in Joan’s area of expertise. It also becomes conversational and not like a one-sided interrogation. Once Joan determines where the pain area is, she can continue with the conversation by demonstrating her approach to the situation, and she could also leave the interview with a proposal of how she will approach her new role the first 90 days.   Joan followed my guidance and cultivated the offer.

For more unconventional tips on how to improve your job search strategy, so you too can attract your target audience and turn interviews into conversations that get you hired: Please watch my short video by clicking here.

The Video Will Reveal: 

• The Biggest Mistakes Job Seekers Make When Looking for a Job
• A Three Phase Critical System that successful job seekers use to get companies to hire them while Unsuccessful Job Seekers Do Not Apply
• The Proven System That Captures The Attention Of Your Target Companies And Generates Interviews That Turn into Offers and Jobs

Thank you for your time.

Grace Totoro received her BBA from Adelphi University and her Master’s Degree from New York Institute of Technology. She is a Visionary, Career Transitions Coach, and Thought Leader, who has been having fun for over two decades, helping others in refining their Career Objectives, and Job Search Strategies while living a life filled with purpose. She is President and Lead Coach for TransitionsByGrace, LLC and she can be reached at 561-351-9894, or by email: GraceTotoro@TransitionsByGrace.com. Website:https://www.TransitionsByGrace.com