One of the best ways to think of an interview is to see it as an opportunity to "sell" the prospective employer on the benefits you can bring to the organisation. Selling is the process of uncovering needs and demonstrating how you can satisfy those needs, as well as helping an individual to make a decision in your favour. Interviewing should be viewed in the same way, in order to do this you must be able to see yourself as a sales product.
All products have "features." They are the characteristics that make them what they are, for example they operate at a certain temperature, or run at a particular speed, or have the appropriate "bells and whistles." While these may be interesting, what is important to the buyer is how these features will benefit them.
In your job search process; the "features" are your training, education, former employers and job titles, responsibilities, etc. They may qualify the product (you), but they do not make the sale. The benefits are your accomplishments and contributions, the results you have been able to produce, the solutions you can provide, all presented in such a way as to be tailored to the needs of the interviewer. You should be able to establish the needs of the employer during the interview.
Your responsibility in the interview is to turn your sales features into obvious benefits for the employer.
| The seller (you) wants/needs. (4) | The buyer (the organisation) wants/needs (1) |
| The seller has to offer (2) | The buyer has to offer (3) |
In many job interviews both sides are focused on their own needs and no real communication takes place.
As the numbering in the above lists indicate, the sequence of events is critical. The major reality at the beginning of the interview is the potential employer's needs. Your first and only objective at this point is to understand these needs and to offer your skills and strengths to match them. (1)
If through careful listening, intelligent questioning and responses, you convince the interviewer that there is a match, that you are the right person for the job, the roles described will be reversed. The interviewer will now be motivated to sell you on joining the organisation and you will have to decide whether to buy into the company's potential. (2)
This role reversal will occur only when the match is determined. If you do not see or hear any signs of it, you will know the match has not been completed and you will have to continue the matching process. Sometimes it takes more than one interview to make a match. When the matching process has been completed, then, and only then are you in a position to negotiate an offer. Any premature discussion of salary must be politely but firmly turned aside and postponed. (3)
When negotiations have been completed it is time to close the loop and consider whether your wants and needs have been met. This sometimes requires a re-opening of negotiations. But, at this point in the process, you will be in an excellent negotiating position to address your needs. (4)
The way you can use this as an interviewing mind set, is to know the needs of the organisation very well and to think through just how employing you will benefit the prospective employer. If you do your research well, you will know the problems currently being experienced in the industry and some of the ones confronting the organisation.