Job Interview Tips: How To Nail Your Next Job Interview

I want to share with you some job interview tips that will help you nail your next job interview. I want to help you improve your game.

I have been interviewing a lot of people this past week for a new position at my company.  I have learned so much from the interview process.

There are certain things that I notice amongst the people that really stand out versus the mass amounts of people who don’t.

#1 – Have a strong online presence.

Any job that you apply for, you need to understand that the employer/company will do their research to make sure that you are the right fit for their company.

The best way to learn more about who someone is via social media, whether that’s your Facebook profile, LinkedIn profile, Instagram, etc.

It is important that you are conscious of what you are posting.  For example, if I notice that someone is very negative or immature online, that is not someone that I will want to hire.

Watch the video below:

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#2 – Create an awesome LinkedIn profile.

A LinkedIn profile is like an online CV, which allows employers to see your work history, connections, testimonials, etc. It is important to get as many endorsements or recommendations as you can, which will show the employer that you are credible.

#3 – Create an awesome CV.

Your CV says a lot about who you are. Make sure that it is professional, has no errors, and that the format is top quality. Focus on attention to detail, because the design, look and the feel of it says a lot about who you are.

#4 – Do your research on the company.

Do your research on the vision, mission, culture, values, and industry of the company. The more you are prepared, the better you will do. It is important that you know how you can benefit the employer. Every interview is an opportunity for you to show up.

#5 – Communicate to the interviewer the benefit/value that you can provide to their business.

The only thing that a company cares about is how you can add value to them. Don’t just focus on your qualities. An interview isn’t about you. Think to yourself, “What are the benefits that my qualities can provide to the employer?”

#7 – Understand your strengths.

People hire based on you nature.  It is important that you pick the right jobs that support your strengths so that you can add the most value, long-term. Every interviewer is looking for the top candidate.

If you go after the right jobs, and you’ve mastered and developed your craft, than it’s going to be an easy sell. Don’t over-sell yourself and try to convince the interviewer that you are the best. It can be a red flag.

#8 – Be prepared.

Show up early, dress professionally, and review the potential questions you might be asked during an interview.

#9 – Follow-up for a job.

Show that you are committed and passionate about the job, because employers appreciate that.

#10 – Offer to work for free.

This is the best way to get a job.  Prove your worth, over-deliver, and show that you can add massive value.

Video transcript

Hey, everyone!  Stefan here from ProjectLifeMastery.com, and in this video I'm going to share with you some job interview tips that will help you nail that next job that you are after. Over this last week I've been interviewing a lot of candidates for a brand new position that I have within my business, Project Life Mastery.  I've been going through a ton of applications, a ton of resumes, and I've been interviewing a lot of people in-person, and some virtually.

There is so much that I've learned that I want to share with you in order to help you get that next job that you are after.  I've interviewed hundreds of people over the years for my business.  There are certain things that I notice amongst the people that really stand out, and that are the top candidates for a job, versus the mass amount of people that apply for jobs or show up for interviews, who are never going to get the job.

There are so many little things that are easily correctable that I'm going to share with you guys in this video.  If you can master and improve it, it's going to make a huge difference in helping you get the next job that you are after. I'm going to share a lot of that with you in this video in order to help you improve your game.

Have a strong online presence about yourself

Number one, you have to make sure that you have a strong online presence.  We live in the world of the Internet. Any job that you apply for, you have got to understand that the employer is going to do their research and due diligence to make sure that you are the right fit for their company.

Every business owner that I know of, that are friends of mine, always look up a person online. They are going to look at your Facebook profile. They are going to look up any social media presence that you have, whatsoever. They are going to look up your LinkedIn profile, if you have one, which you should. 

They are basically going to do research on you online to see what kind of person you really are. They are not going to just listen to what you say on your resume and trust that, or trust what you say to them in an interview. They want to see how you actually behave. They want to see your patterns, how you communicate, and how you behave, online.

What's really important is making sure that your social media presence looks good, that you are not putting stuff out there that a potential employer's going to see.  It could be something that you might have posted five years ago. There is still a history of that online. You want to make sure everything is professional. It doesn't have to be super professional, but that you are still on your best behavior. For example, if someone applies for my position, I'm going to look them up online.

You don't want to be a hater online

I'm going to look to see if they have Facebook and LinkedIn.  I am going to stalk them online. This is what every entrepreneur does. They are going to look to see, “Okay, how does this person behave? How do they live their life? What do they value? What are their passions?  What are their interests? What's their mindset? What's their psychology?” You can learn so much about people just by seeing how they behave online.

If I notice that someone is very immature or negative, that's probably not a person that I'm not going to want to hire for my job.  You've got to be really careful about what you post online because you have to understand that it can haunt you many years down the road, for that dream job that you might be after. You don't want to be a hater online.

There are some people that are haters. Who is going to hire that person? That person is always going to be stuck at McDonalds or just a really low-end, low-quality job because they are not going to get hired if that's how they are behaving online. Make sure that your behaviour is good, that you have a good online presence, and that even goes for having great photos of yourself, and just being conscious of what you are posting.

Make sure that you have a LinkedIn profile set up

The other tip that I have is to make sure that you have a LinkedIn profile set up. LinkedIn is key. LinkedIn is like an online resume. It's basically where I can go and see a person's work history. I can see the connections that they have. I can see the previous jobs that they might have worked.  I can see testimonials of what other people are saying about them, as well. The top candidates that I look at always have a really professional LinkedIn profile that they send me.

They have it linked on their resume, as well. I'm able to see so much about them and I'm really impressed by that. Having that set up is key. Everybody should have LinkedIn set up, even if you're a business owner. A lot of people actually recruit people from LinkedIn, as well, so if you have a really good LinkedIn profile, you might get different job opportunities presented to you.  I know a lot of entrepreneurs who approach people on LinkedIn to hire them for different positions.

Have the LinkedIn set up.  Try to get endorsements and recommendations from people as well, because that will also be very useful.  The other tip that I have is that you've got to make sure that your resume is awesome. Your resume will say a lot about yourself, as does your social media and your LinkedIn. The resume has to be professional. It can't have any mistakes or errors, and you also want to make sure that the formatting is really good.  Whenever people send me resumes, I learn so much about them.

Have an impressive looking resume

There are certain people who send a resume and it's freaking beautiful.  It's like a work of art. They have a beautiful template, different colors on it, and it looks really professional and really high-end. Then, there are some people who send me a resume, and it's just a blank Word document with some bullet points.  It's really low quality. There's a huge difference between those two people because I can see who puts more attention to detail, who actually takes looking for a job more seriously, who's going to put in the extra effort.

All these little things say something about yourself.  Make sure that your resume is really professional. You can find a lot of really good templates online.  Improve your resume so that it's amazing, and always have it ready and available for different opportunities, so that you can just send it off. Your resume should really impress the person.  It's not as much about what's on the resume, but the design, the look, and the feel of it.  That will say a lot about you as well.

Do as much research on the company before the actual interview

Another tip that I have ism whatever job that you are applying for, make sure that you do as much research on the company, before the actual interview. The more that you've prepared for that interview, the better that you are going to do with it.

You don't just want to show up for an interview not knowing anything about the business, not knowing anything about the business's vision, culture, values, products, or industry, because then when you are in the interview they are going to ask you questions. You are not going to be able to actually relate the questions to the needs of the business or give the answers that the interviewer actually wants to hear from you.

There are certain people that I've interviewed for this position that I have, that have no clue about what I'm doing and what my business is, and so it's really hard to interview them because I'm not impressed by that. I've had some people that come in for the interview and they love my vision, my mission, and they have watched my videos. They know what my business is about, how they can benefit me, and how they can fit in.

They have done their due diligence and that really shows through in the interview. Make sure that you prepare every interview. That is a great, golden opportunity for you. You don't want to do interviews blindly. You want to go in with a plan. You want to go in educating yourself about the position and show up prepared for that.

Talk about the benefit and the value that you can provide to the business

Another key tip that I have is that you've got to make sure that you are communicating to the person that's interviewing you about the benefit and the value that you can provide to that business. This is very important, because that's the only thing that the company cares about. That's the only reason why they are hiring you, is they want to hire someone that's going to add a mass amount of value to their business.

I've done so many interviews where I'm listening to people and they just keep talking about themselves. I ask them, “Why did you apply for this? Why do you want this job?” “Oh, you know it's a great opportunity for me. It's going to help me develop. It's going to be fun for me”.  It's all about them. It's like, “Okay, I don't care about you as much. I'm hiring you and I'm offering you an interview to fill this position to be a part of my team so that you can help me. That's what I really want”.

That's what a person wants when they are trying to hire someone. They don't want them to sell them and tell them all the reasons why they are great. You want to communicate how you are going to help that business. What's the value that you are going to provide? If you've done your research and you've prepared for it, you should be able to go in and say, “Great, I can help you guys with this in your business. I can help you manage your team. I'm a great people person, in that I can help improve the culture”.

I can help this business make more money. I'm a great salesperson and I can help increase the amount of money that you're going to make. I'm going to help make your life easier. I'm going to help free up your time to focus on what's important for you. I'm going to help do this, this, this, this,” all the value that you are going to provide to the business.  Very important. That's primarily what the companies want when they are interviewing someone.

That's a really important thing that I've noticed. The people that really stand out are focused on adding value to me, not just taking from me and trying to suck from me. Another thing that I've noticed as well, which may be a little bit unique to my position.

No business is going to hire someone with a short-term in mind

There's a lot of people that want to work for me, but they want to work for me because they want to use it as an opportunity for them to improve themselves, to learn from me, to develop themselves, so that, after a year, two years, or three years, basically take all the things they have learned, and go and start their own business, do their own thing, or compete with me.  That's something that no business is going to hire for. No business is going to hire someone with that short-term in mind.

You have got to understand that the biggest cost to a business is the cost of replacing someone and training someone to replace a position. The high turnover in business is the biggest expense of any business. Businesses want people that are going to be loyal to them. They want people that are going to work in the position and that are going to work long-term, because it costs a lot of money to train someone, to develop them, to have them make mistakes in your business, and to help them finally be proficient in doing the job.

I was reading one book and it talked about how it takes about a year of someone working in a business for them to be at their peak level of efficiency and productivity and value that they are going to add to a business. If it takes a year of training and developing someone to be in that optimal position, that's very expensive to do. You need to hire someone for more than a year. You need to hire someone for the long-term.

Understand what your strengths are and what your nature is

Understanding the business owner, the position that they are in, and making sure that you are actually adding value to the position is one of the most important things. Also, understand that people hire based on your nature as well. You want to make sure that you understand what your strengths are and what your nature is. Is your nature more as an entrepreneur, someone who has a desire to start their own thing?  Is your job just a temporary situation for you?

Are you more of a manager or a leader? Are you someone that is very skilled at a certain area?  Understanding that is key because that is also going to help you pick the right jobs, that you are going to be able to excel in, long-term.  If you go after a job that is not going to be a long-term fit for you, than it won't be aligned with your nature, and you will end up having a lot of conflicts with it.

Making sure that you are picking the right jobs that you can be the right fit for, long-term, and add the most value to, is equally important, because when you show up for those job interviews, you are going to nail it naturally.  Every job, business, and interviewer are looking for the right person.

If you go after the right jobs that you can add the most value to, and you've mastered your skills, your craft, and you've worked harder on yourself, then on your job, then it's going to be an easy fit. It will be a very easy fit for you to get that job, and you won't need to oversell.  A lot of people try to oversell themselves.  Oftentimes, that can be a red flag.  You don't hire the person that is all talk, and that is trying to convince you why they are the right person for the job. You are not going to get hired that way.  Hopefully this information helps you guys get that next job interview.  There is also a few other basic things as well. Make sure that you show up early, and make sure that you are dressed professionally.

Follow up and prove your worth

Make sure that you have gone over the potential questions that you may get asked for a job interview, and that you have rehearsed them.  That all fits into the preparation element for applying for a job. Of course, make sure that you follow-up for a job. If you are really committed to a job and you really want it, you're going to impress the company when you follow-up. 

I think the best way to get a job, honestly, I've had 1 or 2 employees do this for me, is to offer to work for free. You can go to the business and say, “You know what? I'm so committed to getting this position and helping you grow your business, that I'm willing to offer and work for you, for free, for the next month. You don't have to pay me, and I want to prove myself to you. I want to prove my worth.

I want to over deliver, and after the next thirty days, if you don't feel that were the right fit, that's fine. You don't have to hire me. If you feel that I am the right fit, then you can hire me for the position”.  I've had someone do that for me in my business, a virtual assistant, actually. She said, “You know what? I don't want you to pay me.” I said, “No, no I want to pay you”.  She said, “No, you're not allowed to pay me because I'm going to prove myself to you, the value that I'm going to add your business”.

When you do that, you are going to stand out from everyone else. You are probably going to get the job if you actually deliver what you say, and you are not just all talk.  If you can do that, you can get jobs pretty easily. It's just willing to stand out in that way, to go above and beyond.

Remember to add massive value

That is the key thing to being successful in business, in life, and in a job.  Those are some job interview tips that I have for you. Hopefully that's helpful. Make sure to like this video if you guys enjoyed it. Make sure to subscribe for more videos like this. By the way, if you are someone out there that actually wants to build a business and you decide, “You know what? Maybe I just want to have a job temporarily, but long-term I want to build an online business or create freedom,” then I want to offer you guys a free course that I have, that provides seven ways to build an online business.

I put it together to share seven ways that I've been able to build my online business and different business models.  You can get access to that just by going to ProjectLifeMastery.com/freecourse, or click the link below and the description, here. Head on over and put in your email address. You will get immediate access to the free course that I put together, because ultimately if you can build your own online business, you are not going to need a job, long-term.

You will have the freedom to live as you want and be your own boss, which I think is the ultimate position to be in. Thank you for watching. Good luck on that next job interview, talk to you guys soon.