Most job interview advice is aimed at helping you appear as someone you’re not, in order to get what you want.
Projecting an image, avoiding traps, selling hard, following scripts, using jargon.
This is backwards. Top performers approach interviewing from the opposite direction:
They do the work to become the type of person that a great company would want to hire. Then they calmly go get the job.
When I look, for example, at the last 5 positions my team has filled for our clients, those 5 winning candidates all had one thing in common:
They interviewed effortlessly.
Interviewing, like almost everything else in life, is persuasion. Persuasion is not about convincing others that you’re right, but rather, “repping who you are with such a high level of comfort that people naturally go with your flow.”
Top performers don’t follow scripts, they build instant rapport.
They don't downplay their enthusiasm for the role, they riff ideas in real time.
They don’t try to sell what they can do, they weave a story about what they have done and what they can’t wait to do next.
They don’t avoid difficulty, they have a track record of embracing it.
They’re not acting a certain way, they’re being a certain way. This realness consistently generates a favorable response. Charm and composure are difficult to achieve, but they’re even more difficult to fake.
When honesty gets layered on top of enthusiasm and conviction, there’s no room for nervousness. Insecurities fade.
What happens, you may ask, when you show up like this — and the interviewer instantly loves and believes in you — but still hires someone else who’s technically a better fit?
Well, what happens is that now you have a friend, in a position of power, at a brand you respect, who admires you, and has your phone number.
Do this enough times, and you’ll have an entire industry buzzing about you.
