How To Succeed At Interviews

This week’s video is about winning at interviewing. Be it a interview with the media, a job interview or an interview that you are conducting yourself, these tips will help you ace your interview.

Special thanks to my friends at Moz. The interview has not come out yet but I will be promoting it here and elsewhere when it does.

Tell Stories

• Tell stories rather than just stating facts.
• Stories are stickier, more sharable and more relatable than other kinds of information dispersal.

Interviewing is an Artful Skill

• Many times interviewers are new to the craft and will only ask you very obvious “top of mind” questions.
• Your job (and this is difficult) is answer their generic and obvious questions with creative and unique answers. This makes your interview more valuable for you and for the interviewer.

Mention Other People

• In order for you to have become interesting enough to be interviewed, you must have relied on other people in the past.
• As such, it is only right to mention other people who you find to be valuable resources. This is helpful for them AND for the audience.
• Mentioning others also makes them more likely to promote your interview and to think of you in the future.

If You Give A Dumb Response, Ask Follow Up Questions

• If you sound like an idiot during your own interview, it is your own fault. Take actions to avoid this.
• If you say something that doesn’t make sense, turn back to the interviewer and ask for clarifications. This is uncommon but tremendously effective.
• This also acts as a stall so you have time to come up with a better answer.
• Push the interviewer to ask you better questions.

Practice Your Story Before The Interview

• I used to fight this advice as I didn’t want to sound overly rehearsed. The problem with this approach is that instead of sounding overly rehearsed, you sound amateur which isa worse trait.
• Come up with your narrative and at least a few talking points before the interview to make your job easier.

Regardless of the Medium, Smile

• Even if people can’t see you, they can hear you smile.
• Smiling makes you feel better.
• Smiling can put both you and the interviewer at ease (assuming it is genuine smile).