You’ve put together a solid resume and cover letter, you’ve networked well. Now you have an interview for your dream job. Don’t blow it. This article lays out three key qualities hiring managers look for.
http://fortune.com/2015/03/24/charles-galda-interview-tips/
As the article says, you need to be inquisitive, a problem solver and a team player. These are qualities that will serve you well in any job — not matter the field or industry.
All three qualities are important, but I want to focus on inquisitiveness here. I have always been inquisitive — and it’s helped me greatly in my life and career. When I was a kid, my grandparents lived upstairs from us. They had a two room apartment — basically a kitchen and bedroom , with a bath of course. This was a pretty common situation in my hometown. The Hronas family lived next door to us. “Old” Mr. and Mrs. Hronas lived upstairs. I was particularly fond of old Mr. Hronas. I used to like to hang out with him. I also used to drive him crazy because I asked a lot of questions.
I can remember him saying to me, “Why, why, why Bud, all you want to know is why. Sometimes I don’t know why.” That was OK — he was great to be around. I remember giving him a ride up the hill to our houses after I got my drivers license. He thanked me and then said — “Bud, I’m going to dance at your wedding.” And he did. He’s gone now, but I have very fond memories of him.
Back to my point about being inquisitive. If you have a thirst for knowledge, you can master almost anything. I always wanted to you know why and how things worked. As I got older, I got particularly interested in how organizations work. That’s the main reason I chose a career in organization development.
As it says in the article you can demonstrate your inquisitiveness by demonstrating your understanding of how the company where you are interviewing and their customers make money. This means you need to do a little research on the company before you get to the interview.
I once heard a story about a strong candidate who lost a job because he brought the wrong kind of bottled water to the interview. Here’s the deal. He was interviewing for a position with Frito Lay, a company owned by PepsiCo. He arrived at the interview with a bottle of Dasani water — a Coca Cola product. The hiring manager decided that if the candidate didn’t take the time to learn the Frito Lay is a PepsiCo company, and that Dasani is a Coca Cola product, he probably wasn’t very inquisitive — and therefore not a good fit.
This might sound silly, but think about it. The hiring manager didn’t care about the candidate’s choice of bottled water. She did however, decide that he wasn’t a good fit at Frito Lay because he didn’t take the time to research the company well enough. He wasn’t inquisitive enough to learn that Frito Lay is a PepsiCo company, and that Dasani is a competitor’s product.
Be inquisitive. Never stop learning and growing and you’ll do fine in your life and career journey.
Your career mentor,
Bud
PS: I write this blog to help people create the life and career success they want and deserve. Now I’m going one step further. I’ve created a membership site in which I’ve pulled together my best thoughts on success. And, as a reader of this blog, you can become a member for free. Just go to www.BudBilanich.com/join to claim your free membership. You’ll be joining a vibrant and growing community of success minded professionals. I hope to see you there.
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