By this point in your career you are probably comfortable with the basics of a meeting and you feel prepared going in and giving a good account of yourself.
However, how do you kick on? To do this you need to make yourself truly memorable and stand out.
3 key ways to do this are:
1. Take control
This can be achieved in your opening statements and conversations.
Start with asking the early questions as you’re going into your meeting.
Simple example if it'll help you would be:
- What did you get up to at the weekend or are going to do at the weekend? That’s as simple as it gets.
More complex from your research you will have identified things about your interviewer and the company ask these, for example:
- Fascinating article you were quoted in recently, what as the response been like?
- Or a new favourite of mine from Andy Dunne of Firsthand Recruitment - What is it about my CV that you liked and secured me this interview?
This sets the tone, you’ve eased yourself into the meeting and you are ready to go.
2. Challenge
You have to do this in the right way. Challenging in an overtly aggressive manner isn’t going to help but subtly creating a debate and challenge actually makes you stand out.
If the business takes this as an affront though that’s probably indicative of the culture of the business so do you want to work there?
An example could be: I noted in my research that the business has made significant strides from x to x in their diversity demographic, how has the business encouraged this and what are the future plans?
Another might be, the business recently secured a contract and I see it’s now overdue how will my role impact or be impacted this?
It’s a polite fairly direct challenge to ask what they’re doing but it’s very rarely done and therefore if achieved successfully it can make you stand out.
3. Build rapport
Common ground will help you achieve this so quickly.
What is your interviewers role within the organisation and how will that play into yours? Do you have common interests? Did you grow up in the same area or go to the same school or university?
If this person is going to potentially be your line manager you need to understand if you can work with them and they can work with you.
Of course there’s so much more to meetings and interviewing but as a start to kick on your meetings these will help you. Practice them!
If you would like to learn more though check out our modules and program available on our website.