Dive Deeper in Your Next Interview!
SUMMARY: In the hyper-competitive environment of career searching: how can candidates stand out? By diving deeper and asking smart, insightful and well-researched questions. This article shares insights on how “diving deeper” research help you swim through your next job interview!
ARTICLE: As a healthcare recruiter, I interview candidates daily. I anticipate a candidate’s questions about the “basics” of a career opportunity, and I’ll share that information upfront. Because I anticipate a candidate’s question and answer them, it’s okay if a candidate does not have a list of questions for me. As I prepare candidates for the next step in the interview process—to meet with my clients—I coach them on the importance of diving deeper in interview prep. Research is key—it’s the foundation and provides the authentic content that enables candidates to ask smart, insightful questions.
Smart candidate questions during an interview are fed from thorough research. I encourage candidates to do more than a cursory exploration of a potential employer’s messaging and positioning on social media. Dive deeper. By more deeply exploring a future employer’s social media presence—encompassing a “long view” of not just what they are posting but also how the public is reacting to their posts, and “what’s missing,” —this practice can feed the critical thinking that goes into crafting smart questions.
In this way, candidates can develop questions that do not just reflect back the specific, posted content of what they are seeing on social media. They take the extra step by applying insight to what they are seeing the company say about themselves, and making smart connections about how each post is being received. A practice like this demonstrates that, just as a candidate has been intentional about research and interview prep, it also points to the type of applied thinking that they will be performing on behalf of the company when they are hired.
For example, instead of asking a generic question like, “What’s the company culture like?”, a candidate could say, “I noticed on your [social media page] that your team recently announced that it is developing a new patient advocacy initiative. I noticed the high level of positive engagement on this post. I also noticed that X% of posts were critical about the costs of such an initiative. From my experience, the economic argument on investing in similar initiatives is [then: cite a concrete example]. Can you tell me more about how the responses to your post are influencing the ongoing development of this initiative?” This level of specificity highlights the candidate’s critical thinking, career experience and insightful approach, applied to a prospective employer’s strategic planning initiatives.
Surveys back-up this strategy. According to a study by Glassdoor[1], 88% of hiring decision-makers believe that an informed candidate is a quality candidate. Doing research and crafting thoughtful questions can differentiate a candidate in today’s hyper-competitive job market.
Smart interview preparation is not limited to rehearsing answers to a future employer’s anticipated questions. It is about engaging in a conversation that spotlights your critical thinking capabilities. As candidates research and share their smart questions, they stand out in the interview process.
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