One of the things that always surprise me when coaching for job interviews is how difficult expressing our knowledge and suitability for a position become. We all know people who are very knowledgeable, very diligent and trustworthy and, for some reason, they don’t get that job which description matched 120% with them. Bad luck? Probably bad articulation.
What can you do to sound more articulate and get the job you want?
· Show off: there is nothing wrong in selling yourself as long as you tell the truth. At the end of the day, if you don’t do it, the next candidate will and who will get the position? You are warned.
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| Being articulate is key to stand out of the crowd |
· Make the most of your international background: many people understate their ability to speak several languages, how they can acknowledge and take advantage of cultural differences and their gift to build relationships with people from different backgrounds. If you have international experience, make it work for you. Explain concrete examples in which that kind of experience has helped you in the past and how it can help you in the position you are applying for. If you have done your homework I am sure you already know in which country is done what and how all the functions and locations relate to each other.
· When using big words, give real examples. Too many people define themselves as ‘proactive people’, ‘real team players’ and ‘innovative’. Too often interviewers find themselves either thinking ‘sure…’ or ‘what do they mean?’ Build your credibility by giving real and concrete examples. Did you go an extra mile so that your colleague could finish his part in time and the project was successfully and timely delivered? Did you propose solution X which helped saving Y million of pounds? Be concrete, it will make you stand out of the crowd.
· Quantify. Managing big projects, dealing with suppliers and having a team reporting to you don’t really give any kind of information. If you are an architect: did you design one house or the Guggenheim museum? Did you have a budget of £20,000 or £200 Million? Did you have one person reporting to you or a team of 100 with 10 direct reports? The same applies from admin positions (for how many people did you manage the payslips?) to the CEO.
· Don’t put yourself down: if you are not the right candidate, let the interviewer make the decision themselves. Saying things like ‘I might not have the right qualifications’, ‘I am not very good at that’ or ‘I do not have the relevant experience’ put you already out of competition. Don’t talk yourself down and specially don’t do it with public. You might not have experience that matches 100% with the requirements; very likely most of the candidates don’t have it either but I am sure you have some transferable skills that can be useful in your new position. Your qualifications might not be the ones they asked for in the ad but unless you need a certification like for accountancy, it might not be that critical and as for the ‘I am not very good at that’, who says that?
And the most important thing: reading this article is not enough. List the big words you want to use and the examples for each one; summarise in writing your international experience and how it applies to the new position, quantify everything you have done and write positive answers. Now read it out loud. How does it sound? Odd, doesn’t it? Try again changing the structure, the words. Better now, right? Yes, we have noticed: we do not sound articulate because we are born articulate. We sound articulate because we learn how to do it and we prepare for it. More than that, after having written our answers a couple of times and being satisfied we actually learnt them by heart and how did we sound this time? Brilliant! As if we were born articulate and not prepared for it!
Nel Rivero
International Corporate & Executive Coach
@ Sky Ladder Coaching
The Sky is the limit, getting there is up to you!
P.S. Please, feel free to email me for some Job Interview Coaching information @ nel.rivero@skyladdercoaching.com and also check my website (www.skyladdercoaching.com) for further details.
