How To Stand Out In An Interview (Learn How Average VS Stand Out Candidates Interview Differently)
Hey guys! In this post, I’m going to teach you the difference between an average candidate and a stand out candidate.
So I’ve been on a lot of interview panels, and I can tell you that the average candidate does certain things and shows up in a certain way and the standout candidates show up in a completely different way.
And I’m going to explain to you how they do it.
So stay tuned.
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The problem that most people have when they’re going on a lot of interviews and not succeeding is their mindset.
I’m going to talk a little bit today about the mindset of an average candidate and how when they stay in that mindset, they don’t realize they need to change it.
Then they’re going on interviews over and over again and not knowing what the difference is, not knowing how they need to take different actions the next time.
And so that’s the main contributing factor for getting stuck in that pattern.
The first thing that average candidates do is they are very focused on themselves.
They’ll be thinking things like, “I hope they like me. I hope I can answer the questions correctly. I hope they like my answers. I hope I’m telling the right stories. I hope my stories are going to land. I hope I’m doing it right.”
Quote unquote, “I hope I’m saying the right words.”
And so this comes from a needy place. Because when you’re trying to say things and do things for the other person to approve of you, that is the definition of needy.
Needy means putting somebody else before you.
And that’s the energy that comes across.
It’s like, “Oh, well, I want to please you. I want to make you happy. I want to say what you want. And I’m going to pay very close attention and hope that I am saying what you want.”
That’s the first thing that they do.
And they don’t know they’re doing it.
And maybe you’re doing this, and you don’t know it, and no judgment here.
Because we’ve all been needy before.
It’s really not a big deal.
This is just me explaining the difference. So the first thing is that, is that you’re really coming from needy energy, but you don’t know you are.
And because you’re very focused on yourself.
When you focus on yourself, you’re not accessing the real brainpower that you need to be focusing on what you really need to be focusing on, which I’m going to explain to you.
The second thing is that average candidates are focused on simply getting out of the situation they’re in.
That’s the most important thing for them and we can’t really hide that.
So if that is the most important thing to you, and I get a lot of this, it’s like, “I’m desperate. I need a job. I need to work; I’ll take anything. I just need to work.”
There’s that desperate, needy, graspy energy.
That is going to show up as well.
And I get a lot of pushback on this, and people say, “Oh, no, no, no, I don’t show up like that.”
But if you’re not getting the result, if you’re not getting hired, then that is showing up somehow.
Results don’t lie.
That’s another big thing.
It’s like, even if you’re working right now, and you really don’t like where you’re at if you are thinking, “I just need to get out from where I’m at. I just need to get out of my current situation ’cause it’s going to be better somewhere else. It’s going to be better when I get into somewhere else, anywhere else.”
Then that’s going to be a very different kind of energy that you’re going to show up in the interview.
What you need to do is find sufficiency in where you’re at now.
You need to find sufficiency somehow, like, “I have a roof over my head. I’m fine. I’m safe.”
That needy, desperate, graspy energy definitely shows up.
Okay, and I’ve seen it time and time again.
The third thing they do is they are inconsistent with their efforts.
They will send sporadic applications.
And then if something doesn’t come of it, then they will get very disappointed.
They will get frustrated, and then they will stop sending applications.
They will stop getting interested in why it’s not working.
They will stop getting inquisitive OR they won’t even go to a curious place.
They’ll get to a frustrating place, and then they will stop and so it’s very up and down. It’s very sporadic.
One week they might send a bunch, another week, they might not send any.
Some weeks, they might have some conversations. Some weeks, they won’t have any.
And it’s all driven by how they feel, and how they feel is driven by external factors.
The fourth thing they do is they are very, very influenced by other people.
If somebody says, “Oh, your resume’s great,” they’re going to feel very, very happy about that and very proud.
They’ll be like, “Oh, they said my resume was great.”
Then if somebody says, “Yeah, your resume needs a lot of work,“ they’re going to feel very, very low and very down about that.
They’re being influenced very heavily by what somebody else who really has no bearing OR no standing in their life is saying to them.
Instead of trusting themselves and really focusing on what they believe, and what they think, and what they need to do next.
And making those decisions themselves, they’re very much focusing and being driven by what other people are saying, whether that be a good thing, a compliment OR something that demotivates them.
Afterward, when they show up in conversations OR interviews, they are very focused, again, on whether or not they’re getting validation or approval from somebody else.
If the interviewer is warm and kind, and they’re nodding, and they’re saying, “Yes, I understand,” and they’re really inquisitive.
If the interviewer is a certain way, then they can show up a certain way. If the interviewer is not a certain way.
If they aren’t paying attention OR they’re not fully focused on the candidate OR maybe they say something to throw the candidate off, the candidate will be very easily thrown off because they are so influenced by another person.
They’re not standing strong in who they are, and what they want, and what they stand for.
They’re very focused on other people. And that’s another subtle form of being needy.
We are placing other people’s opinions as more important than our own opinion.
And that shows up again.
If you’re doing that, you will know because you will feel very demotivated when somebody doesn’t pay attention OR if somebody doesn’t respond to you right away.
OR if you don’t think somebody is paying attention to you, you will feel very demotivated and very thrown off in that interview, and then in future interviews and how you show up to the process moving forward.
You probably won’t be motivated to send out more applications and continue on the process, because you’re going to be very demotivated by what one person did OR said, OR two people OR three people.
But the point is is that you are very driven.
If you are very driven by what other people do, then that is a sign that you are behaving like an average candidate, which is why you haven’t gotten the result yet that you want, which is, I’m going to explain to you, the difference in a minute.
The fifth thing that an average candidate will do is they will accept whatever they’re given.
They don’t have a strategic value plan for their interview for how they’re going to show the value that they’re going to bring.
When they’re offered an amount OR they’re offered an offer, they will just take any offer because they just think they can take what they can get and that’s what they need.
They’ll just take anything.
They’ll just take it.
And then they might regret it later, thinking, “I really should have asked for more because now I’m working extra hours and doing all this work, and I’m not getting paid for it.”
That’s a lack of setting boundaries for yourself, which is also a common thing in average candidates, and people who think like this, that is kind of how they think.
They think in the way of, “Well, you know, I’ll just take this for now, and then I’ll see what happens.”
Afterward, they won’t set a boundary for themselves when there’s the opportunity to set that boundary, and then they will be resentful later.
The last thing is that they interview based on feelings of insecurity, fear, scarcity, and not-enoughness.
So they secretly feel like they’re not enough, and like they are being given this opportunity, and that whatever opportunity they’re being given, they really need to take it, and that they’re lucky to just have whatever they get.
That shows up when they’re interviewing in that energy.
It’s that energy of not-enoughness.
Those are all the characteristics of an average or below-average candidate.
You might not have all of them.
You might have a little bit of it.
You can identify that in yourself if you are having these feelings, but these feelings all stem from how you think about yourself.
If you think about yourself as somebody who doesn’t have a lot of experience, who would be lucky to get any position, who isn’t very qualified.
What are your thoughts about yourself?
Those thoughts are all showing up in whether OR not you do show up as an average OR below average candidate OR whether OR not you show up as a standout candidate.
If that’s you, then that’s what’s happening.
That’s the reason why you’re not getting the job offers.
You can read my post on how to get a job without the experience.
The difference between confidence and self-confidence.
And I’ll explain to you how all those things are just in your head. It’s not that your experience equals your capability.
So completely solvable, just things you don’t know yet on how to solve it.
All right, so now let’s talk about a standout candidate and how they show up differently.
First thing’s first is a standout candidate shows up with high intention and low attachment.
What that means is they’re very enthused in helping the company, curious about focusing on the company and the people they’re interviewing with.
They’re not thinking about themselves at all.
They’re thinking about, “I wonder who this person is, what they need, how I can help them. I wonder what causes this person’s stress on a daily basis, and how I can alleviate that stress.”
“I love this company. I’m really excited to hear more about what they’re doing, and how I can help them.”
You see the difference in that energy VERSUS the average candidate who’s thinking, “I hope they like me. I hope I’m telling the right stories.”
That’s the first major difference is they’re completely focused on what they can contribute.
They’re focused on, “Can I help? Do my skills match up here? Am I going to be a good match? How can I help? How am I the best match?”
And they’re going to come from that place.
They’re going to ask different questions.
They’re going to be in a different head space completely.
The second thing is they are going to show up knowing who they are and what their strengths are.
If, for example, they’re asked to, say it’s a marketing position, and they’re asked to write content for the blog.
The hiring manager says, “Oh, so I’m hoping you’ll be able to write some blog content too.”
And the standout candidate is not very good at writing blogs.
Say she’s more into doing analytical things and helping with the big strategic plan, and this is for a marketing manager position.
The average candidate might say, “Sure, I’d be happy to help with the blogs.”
Whereas the standout candidate, she knows she’s not good at blog writing. She knows that’s not her strength.
She might say something like, “To be honest, that’s not my strong suit, but I’d be happy to outsource that for you. And I have resources where we can do that at a fairly low price, but it definitely won’t be the best use of my time, if I’m being honest, but I will definitely make sure that gets done for you. And we’ll be able to have amazing content up on the blog either way, and I’ll make sure that happens.”
That’s somebody who’s standing in what they do well.
And they own it.
They’re not trying to please the interviewer.
They’re not trying to say, “Oh yeah, I’ll do whatever you want.”
They’re saying, “This is how I would handle the situation to still get what we need done.”
The next thing that stand out candidates do is they don’t have just one opportunity.
They are very consistent in their networking and applying and going through their process of finding their next role.
They understand their value and worth.
They know who they are; they know what they do well.
They’re very focused on finding that opportunity. And they are not so influenced by what other people say.
If they went for a bad interview, they would just be like, “Okay, what’s next? That wasn’t for me. What’s next?”
They would treat it very neutrally, and they would know that nothing has gone wrong.
That is just the process.
Then they would go back and continue to apply, continue to build a strong network to create their future opportunities from.
Another thing that stand out candidates do is they stand firm in their own value.
So they are willing to walk away if they’re given an offer that isn’t reflective of their value.
If they haven’t done a good job of communicating their value, they will know that, and they will understand what they need to do differently next time to do that.
And they won’t take it personally.
They won’t make it mean that they don’t have value anymore, just because somebody didn’t see it.
So they will stand firm in their own value, understanding that it’s not personal.
And that it’s just that they need to continue on to find the organization that will see their value and is happy to hire them and pay for their value.
Whereas an average candidate will get discouraged very, very quickly and get knocked out of the game.
Next thing they do is that they do the work to feel sufficient and confident in where they are right now.
Even if a standout candidate doesn’t have a job right now, you can still show up as a standout candidate.
Even if you don’t have a situation that you are in love with right now, and you don’t like your current job, you can still show up as a standout candidate.
The way that you do that is by finding sufficiency in where you’re at right now.
Do you have food?
Do you have water?
Do you have a roof over your head?
Do you have a brain the can solve problems?
Because the organization that will hire you doesn’t care about your ability to pay your bills.
They cannot hire you based on the fact that you need to pay your bills.
A standout candidate focuses their attention on how they’re going to add value to that organization so that then they can get that value back by asking for it with a commensurate salary.
Stand out candidates, it doesn’t matter what circumstance they’re in, they’re able to focus their attention on what really matters in order to get that up-leveled role that they really want.
And lastly, stand out candidates interview from a place of value, service, and certainty.
They’re focused on how they can give value, how they can be of service, and certainty in themselves. So certainty in their own value, in their own capability, in their own self-confidence.
The interview from that place VERSUS the place where an average candidate would, which is urgency, not-enoughness, insufficiency, lack and fear.
I hope that paints a really clear picture of what an average OR below average candidate does versus a standout high level, the good quality candidate does.
If you are not at that place right now.
And you would like some help getting to the point of becoming that standout candidate, you can check out my free training below to get started, Get a Better Job in 30 days.
Click the link below to get it NOW!
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In this training:
- We’re going to go over the opportunities and how to get infinite opportunities, so you’ll never have to worry about where you are getting your next opportunity from.
- You going to find out how to crush your interviews and how to focus on what you can control to nail those interviews.
- Also, how to get a win no matter what, how to feel likeable, so whether they like you OR they don’t, how you’re still going to feel intact, and how you’re still going to feel confident in yourself to keep going to ultimately get to your goal.
- We’re going to talk about mastering salary negotiations so that you can make the money that you want to make over the course of your lifetime. We’re talking five, ten years out, what is it that you want to be doing.
- You’re probably thinking pretty small right now if you’re like most people. I want to challenge you to think bigger.
- And the last thing we’re going to talk about setting up your promotion, so, the things you need to be focused on right now in order to get where you actually want to go.
If you’re interested in that, click the link below, you can get it immediately, you just have to enter your information, and It’ll be in your inbox.
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And remember, the current system isn’t perfect, but you can outsmart it. I’m here to prove to you that you do have what it takes.
I’ll see you next time and I can’t wait!
In Work & Life
I’ve got your back
– XO Natalie
